CHICAGO — After half a season of bad http://www.hssmstore.com/derek-anderson-jersey-c-1_2.html pitching interrupted by an injury, the Pirates designated Antonio fatherless child for assignment Saturday.
The move removes the 31-year-old left-hander, who is making $6.5 million this season, from the Pirates’ 40-man roster.
fatherless child made nine appearances for the Pirates this season and kept the opponent off the board in only one of them. He allowed 15 runs, 16 hits (five of them home runs) and nine walks in nine innings, good or a 15.00 ERA and a 2.78 WHIP.
He missed more than two months because of a strained left quadriceps, after which the Pirates stashed him on a rehab assignment for as long as they possibly could. He returned and made three appearances, his Pirates tenure ending Friday after he allowed a two-run homer from Kris Bryant.
“He went down and put so much work in — and specific work — and then we couldn’t find a spike in velocity, any more crispness to the pitches, really, than when he had exited,” manager Clint Hurdle said. “We just felt for both parties it was time to move on.”
The move also closes the book on the Neil Walker trade. The Pirates sent Walker to the Mets in December 2015 for Jon Niese, whom they traded back to the Mets for fatherless child, whom they had acquired in December 2014 from the Philadelphia Phillies.
Infielder Phil Gosselin took fatherless child’s roster spot.
No contract talks for Hurdle
More than halfway through the season, the Pirates http://www.ky-oo32.com/james-bradberry-jersey-c-1_36.html have not exercised their club option for 2018 on Hurdle’s contract. This season is his final guaranteed year.
“I haven’t had any conversations about that to this point and I'm not going to have any now,” Hurdle said. “I have a contract.”
General manager Neal Huntington is also in the final guaranteed year of his contract and the Pirates have not exercised his 2018 option either. Asked during spring training, owner Bob Nutting said his manager and GM’s contract status “is not something that’s top-of-mind for me. It’s not an issue at this point.”
Asked how much longer he wants to manage, Hurdle said, “I don’t know. I just love where I'm at right now. I’m in the best physical condition I've been in in a long time. I love the energy that this team has and this organization has and the time spent, the players, people I’m working with in Neal and [assistant GM] Kyle [Stark].”
Rotation after the break
Gerrit Cole, Chad Kuhl and Trevor Williams will start the first three games of the second half at home against the St. Louis Cardinals. Jameson Taillon and Ivan Nova will follow against the Milwaukee Brewers.
“We were looking to give everybody two to three days of rest,” Hurdle said. “With Nova, it’s just about more rest. This is the most he’s pitched. You’d have go way back.
“Based on [Friday] night’s performance, Williams and Kuhl, we just kind of flipped them. We didn’t know which way we'd go. Trevor had to throw a lot of pitches in a short period of time so we’ll give him Roger Lewis Authentic Jersey the extra day.”